The Faces of David Beckham

A weekend of soccer fix ahead. Spain take on a pulsating Italian squad high on their demolition of Germany in the Euro 2012 semifinal. Striker Mario Balotelli is set to become the new icon of world soccer if he can lift his country to the title on Sunday in Kiev. Before then, on Saturday, Stanford Stadium hosts the California Clasico between San Jose Earthquakes and Los Angeles Galaxy. 50,000 tickets have been sold for the Bay Area’s sporting event of the summer. Here comes David Beckham. With the end of his career now close, it may be one of the last chances to witness the signature – Bend It Like Beckham. Guest blogger, Englishman and Manchester United supporter, soccer writer Luke James, praises the world’s biggest soccer star for his impact on the Beautiful Game.

The Faces of David Beckham

You look at a picture of David Beckham when he was a teenager and what do you see? I tell you what I see, I see the tousle-haired, shy smile of the boy who did his homework, was school captain, passed his exams, never got in trouble, never burned the school down – but who nobody could even get close to when he had a football at his feet.

While I was having a middle-class education stuffed down my working-class throat in England’s green and unpleasant land, David Beckham was exactly the kind of kid I would, in my adolescent confusion, have both admired and hated in equal measure.

Then you look at him 10 years later after he’s helped my team Manchester United win a clutch of silver. Snap white hot camera flashes walking down the blood-red carpet of fame, standing tattooed in all the top magazines, on billboards, in his underwear getting sexy with a Spice Girl. Madame Tussaud has him measured for the wax museum. Now the mega-star, almost anarcho with his boundary pushing, the soccer icon extraordinaire. What was not to like in this rebel? He made Johnny Rotten look a bit pale and limp by comparison.

Now, in the twilight of his playing career, he still brings in the crowds. 50,000 tickets sold at Stanford for this Saturday’s MLS game between the San Jose Earthquakes and fierce rivals LA Galaxy. He’s still dropping balls onto a dime from 35 yards, still bending it as only he can. This man who has somehow survived all of the fame traps. Now he’s the grownup version of that good kid, soccer’s ambassador, a role model for boys and girls everywhere, from LA to Beijing and back again. Beckham – the happy family man – spreading the good example, sprayed out like long-range free kicks. And he still looks damned cool!

Thank you David Beckham for being so many facets of the hero we all needed. It’s a privilege to be able to take my six-year-old son to see you play this coming weekend.